A blog about the Big Four of the English Premier League

Stone Age Football

Ducky’s Note: Ajit ‘Gobaz’ Gopalakrishnan does a lot of things – Chemical Engineering, writing CAT ‘chumma’ and getting 99.97 and IIM-A and B admits, travelling to foreign lands in the name of interns and experiencing new ‘levels’ of being… In the midst of all this, when utterly bored, he sits and watches Liverpool in action and as luck would have it he happens to catch one of the best matches of the season. As a side note, it should be added that he was watching it with a good friend for company, whom we shall call Mary Jane, for now.

To call yesterday’s Champions League quarterfinals the ‘Game of the Season’, would be to give too much credit to Chelsea. In all fairness, Liverpool played the Game of the Season. Chelsea provided a good supporting act. For Liverpool, to come back from 3-1 down at home and score 4 goals in the away game was a victory in itself. The victory was not just due to talent, but also due to clever strategy. Hats off to Benitez. Benitez summed up what Liverpool are capable of right before the game, when he said that if there’s any team that can do it, it’s Liverpool. Given the fact that for a good part of the game, Liverpool was just a goal away from victory, it would be safe to say that they almost managed to win it. No other team could’ve even come this close, and they managed to do it without their best player!

I was shocked to see that Gerrard wasn’t even on the bench! A gutsy plot to rest Gerrard, injury aside, after Essien had completely nullified him in the previous game. Even after the first half, when Gerrard played more from the right wing, they couldn’t get any moves going in the previous leg. So, it seemed a good strategy overall by Benitez especially after the first half of this game. I am sure Gerrard would have been fit enough to risk him for a match of this magnitude. That’s probably what caught Chelsea unawares in the first half hour. They would’ve expected Gerrard to play and all the plays to go through him like the previous leg, but most of their plays were through the wings this time. And without Terry, Chelsea were bad and gave away too much space. All the good plays Chelsea made were in the latter half of the game, when Liverpool were chasing goals, so a 4-4 draw wasn’t the fairest of results. Sure, it was a little disheartening in the last 10 minutes to see Lampard score his second, but overall a wonderful game. Anyway, in all our Liverpool fan’s hearts, Liverpool won 🙂

Also, Liverpool have just made a statement to Manchester United, that they’re still in with a huge shot at the Premier league title. This certainly ain’t over till the fat lady sings!

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18 Responses

Did you ever played football or have to ever watched champions league matches before???
If you have watched it before then this review clearly says that you must be a blind liverpool fan and nothing else.

“”For Liverpool, to come back from 3-1 down at home”….where the credit lies??
“score 4 goals in the away game was a victory in itself.”….chelsea also scored 3 goals in away games.was that a joke??
“victory was not just due to talent”….only sad truth is liverpool didn’t get the “REAL” victory and not even they will be allowed to continue their talent show in next round by UEFA
“but also due to clever strategy. Hats off to Benitez.”…..I can only say -“Bye bye Benitez…bye bye liverpool…next year firse milenge”

I desperately wanted a pool-chelski game review today, but it looked a tad ‘not happening’ because of Aps’ unavailability. But never in my WILDEST dreams did i imagine we’d get a GOBAZ written article. (My dreams are pretty wild. I must have scored for Arsenal in the Champs league final some million times)
I agree Avik that the Champs league is a double legger for a reason and overall yes, Chelsea did deserve to go through (probably), but there is NO way you can take anything away from the scousers and I can also confidently say there is NO way Chelsea could’ve done what Liverpool did. i could say a LOT of uncomplimentary things about Chelsea, but I’ll keep em for my post on Friday
Oh and Cheeky, what are you doing reading the comments on rediff?? 😛

Oh Maddy..u make me laugh again !!!
“Chelsea did deserve to go through (probably), but there is NO way you can take anything away from the scousers and I can also confidently say there is NO way Chelsea could’ve done what Liverpool did”

Haha..yes Chelsea merited to go through..and YES Chelsea could never have done what pool did…get thrashed 3-1 at home and then chasing the tie in 2nd leg !!!
Too much is being made of pool’s so called “heriocs”..but take a more sensible view of it and u’ll see that pool did what any team on the night wud have done..come out all guns blazing having to score 3 goals at least.
Lets face it..the early ‘domination’ was only bacause of Chelsea’s hesitancy in commiting men forward..maybe coz they were not sure whether to attack or jus sit back and soak up the pressure. Even then, pool only scored off a dubiously awarded free-kick, and an even dubious penalty.
After HT, Chelsea were given the stick by Hiddink and they got their strategy right. What followed in next 30 mins was almost a repeat of Anfield.
Chelsea took command..found their rhythm, and pool didnt as much as whimper !!!
At 3-2 up, again Chelsea looked to just play out the 10 mins, but out of nowhere Lucas (of all peolpe) decides to take a shot that even he didnt intend to go in, and surprise surprise it deflects off Essien, and Cech is wrong-footed.
Seems lady luck was trying its very best to get pool thru..and the shaken Chelsea players were again caught out as Kuyt scored.
So it seemed destined that pool wud pull off a miracle, and with the big fat lady luck firmly on their side.
But u see, these are the moments when the real heroes stand up and are counted. Sir Frank Lampard could not have given a more fitting response to him not being even nominated in the PFA Players list, when he shud actually win it if consistency and class are the standards.
And, so it was, even God could not have resisted the commitment and character shown by Chelsea players in coming back from 2 goals and a very poor 1st half down.

And finally,
“i could say a LOT of uncomplimentary things about Chelsea, but I’ll keep em for my post on Friday”

I guess u wud just take this opportunity to vent ur frustration at being only 2nd best in London, and ur envy, desperately wishing to see some of the qualities shown by the Blues in the gooners. Grow up, Maddy !!

i have a very simple yet controversial comment to make.
wht i have to say is tht the Liverpool lineup set out by Rafa wasnt wht i wod call a masterstroke for a simple reason tht he didnt believe that Liverpool wod do it……..he dint wana risk Gerrard as he wasnt a 100%, he wanted to keep him for the EPL encounters……to establish my theory further i’d ask you to see his post match interview and the fact that he took Torres off 10 mins from time.

and again ur Liverpool bias shows wen you say Liverpool played the game of the season!!!!! quite a statement in itself……..and tht only Liverpool are capable of doin somethin like this………in fact Chelsea have also done somethin similar against Tottenham in the 06-7 FA cup.

neways tht apart a fantastic game of football……especially over the two legs.

Unlike few other people for a neutral fan this was one cracker of a game. Goals coming at regular intervals and a comedy of errors by both keepers as they were trying to outdo each other, we neutral fans had fun kicking the asses of both supporters.

Full credits to Hiddink for turning the game around after half time but as far back as I could remember even though Chelsea had the advantage throughout the game both sides had short spells of domination throughout the game. However ‘Keyur’ seems to be talking of some other game where Liverpool scored some total fluke goals they dint deserve and Chelsea’s heroes rose to the occasion by scoring magnificent goals. Sir Frank Lampard’s first goal was as lame as a National Football League goal and if there was an award for scoring lame goals consistently he would win the first, second and third position hands down.

The semi-finals would put the commitment and character of Chelsea players to test. With Cech out there at the top of his game one can only imagine the number of times he would have to pick the ball out of his own net(even Essien cant save all those shots off the goal line :P)

I dont understant wht sadistic pleasure u “neutrals” get by berating Lampard, each and everyone of you wod be wishing tht u had a player of that calibre in ur respective teams (sorry Pool fans i kno you guys are pretty big on Gerrard but Lampard doesnt spend half the season on a medics table)

however lame the goals (it wasnt lame if u check out the pass by Ballack) the main purpose of a football match is to score goals…..he might win wht ever awards that are due to him and thts not for you to judge……he is one of the best/consistent goal scoring midfielder in the world at the moment……period.

A 4-4 scoreline, by default means that the match was entertaining. Best match of the season. Could be!. First half was all Liverpool, with Chelsea finding it extremely difficult to dance to Liverpools tunes. And the second half saw Chelsea improve vastly but then again i would attribute the start of the Liverpool downfall in that game to Reina spilling the shot from Drogba. Then on until for the next half- hour Liverpool were chasing shadows. Unimpressive in attack,iressolute in defence and so on and so forth.

But Liverpool are Liverpool and they just seem to know how to come back, the scousers. One more goal, although a deflection, got them back on track and they showed they are certainly in the game and a fourth goal which was a distant possibility seemed imminent. But the goal post had a different idea, it bundled in Lampards excellent looking ball to make it 4-4 and effectively put the game to bed.Then there was a minor trouble for Chelsea but Essien saved Cechs blushes (although only) on that occassion.

A 4-3 would have been a fair result on Liverpool but the tie belonged to chelsea. As regards PFA, because Gerrard (has been the best player for Liverpool and that for ages now), Vidic Ferdinand and van der Sar (Record breaking defensive record), Ronaldo (He simply had to be there despite not hitting the heights of last season), Giggs( At 35 this premier league legend has played with remarkable consistency , scoring and creating some important goals and in that process became the only player to have scored in every season of the premier league. A sentimental vote always excists and that has come in the form of his nomination so very sorry Frank.)

” Vidic Ferdinand and van der Sar (Record breaking defensive record), Ronaldo (He simply had to be there despite not hitting the heights of last season), Giggs( At 35 this premier league legend has played with remarkable consistency ” ….

Keyur, I can hardly believe i am considering your views worthy of reply. I mean you ARE the man who said Cesc has virtually NO impact on the fortunes of any side he plays in. But still, I love a good fight (especially a fight where the other person has the mental abilities of a 2 year old) an i shall answer once and see if you can get it.

“Too much is being made of pool’s so called “heroics” but take a more sensible view of it and u’ll see that pool did what any team on the night wud have done..come out all guns blazing having to score 3 goals at least.”
Yes, i agree. their task was clear. So was Bayern’s – Score 4. Point is they did it or nearly did. Which constitutes heroics basically, whichever view you take sensible or otherwise.

At 3-2 up, again Chelsea looked to just play out the 10 mins, but out of nowhere Lucas (of all peolpe) decides to take a shot that even he didnt intend to go in, and surprise surprise it deflects off Essien, and Cech is wrong-footed.
Seems lady luck was trying its very best to get pool thru..and the shaken Chelsea players were again caught out as Kuyt scored.
Speaking of deflected goals, clearly you cant think beyond “Sir Frank Lamp-post” who has scored around 87% of his goals through deflections?? And Chelshit didnt do too good a job of holding on did they? which means they basically tried to do something they blow at and well, they BLEW. And lady Luck wasn’t the only one trying to get pool through. Cech was trying too give him some credit.

And, so it was, even God could not have resisted the commitment and character shown by Chelsea players in coming back from 2 goals and a very poor 1st half down.
How is it commitment if Chelsea comes back from a poor first half half and 2 goals down and suckiness if Liverpool do the same? Does anyone else smell double standards here??

I guess u wud just take this opportunity to vent ur frustration at being only 2nd best in London, and ur envy, desperately wishing to see some of the qualities shown by the Blues in the gooners. Grow up, Maddy !!
No no, No frustration at all. We aint the second best in London, We’re just second richest. And next time i want the gooners to be diving cheating scum with no concept of loyalty ill desperately wish. (now i get why Eboue is Eboue)

Now now now…did i just see a gooner vehemently defend the scousers ??!!!
I knew jealousy can make people do strange things, but this is the height. I would have loved to have written a page long reply but i just dont have the time right now..so i’ll let u assume u’ve won the debate.[:P]

So is Ajith a liverpool fan, or a casual liverpool observer taken in by what was an unbeievable game 🙂

Where are the scousers on this blog. They bombard the F365 mailbox, bore you to death with the ‘This is our year ‘ proclamations and in general are a very annoying bunch living in the Shankly and Daglish years.